Linda M. Crate- Three Poems

issue of the heart

It's an issue of the heart
everyone's life
matters
no matter their race or creed;
i'm so sick of hearing
only one
person has been repressed
because that simply
isn't true,
and it's ignorant to assume
only one race has
been affected by the mercilessness
of cops—
what is this world coming to when
one life should matter over
another?
to those who were once meant to
serve and protect are the
enemies
hiding behind their badges;
and yet you cannot fight hate with hate
or drive out darkness with darkness
fighting fire with fire
only makes the
flames all the more higher
destroys more
lives than it would have otherwise—
are there any solutions?
or are we just going to let lady liberty
fall like eric garner
and repeat his dying refrain,
"I...can't...breathe..."?
there are no easy solutions,
but sometime must be done because these
men are criminals
hiding behind their badges
insisting justice prevails when there is
nothing that could ever
justify what they've done.


 
caged bird

i remember when i was younger i
used to pledge allegiance
to the flag and all she stood for,
but now i'm not so sure
i do;
if it means shooting citizens in cold blood
because they're black or epileptic or
have down's syndrome,
because the cop didn't like them or just because
they can—
no, this isn't the country
the troops die
defending;
and so why are we letting it happen?
standing like ostriches with heads in the sand
it seems we are too afraid to
face the very people that were once meant to protect us—
if they cannot defend america the way she was
meant to be protected,
then why should we follow their laws?
if laws are not to protect us,
then they are to restrict us and in a land full of
freedom it doesn't make me feel free
at all
just a caged bird singing
waiting for that moment when she can escape.



stop doing wrong in the name of justice

we are waging war on ourselves
ripping ourselves apart
i don't know who is wrong and who is right
anymore or how this even
started,
but i don't understand why a man or woman
can be killed in cold blood
in the name of justice;
and how we can go on living our everyday
lives as if they didn't matter
afraid to speak out in case we are struck down,
but why should we be afraid to speak
out against injustice?
if we do not then no one else will—
too long evil things have been done in the name
of God or justice or freedom,
but we just look the other way insist if we
don't stare the devils in the eyes
they'll just go away;
but they won't
not unless they're exorcised—
it is time, now, more than ever to free ourselves
from the shackles of these demons
to stop trying to fight darkness with darkness
and instead combat it with light.